One who's fluent in both JavaScript Klingon say / TUE 5-26-15 / Foes of Saruman in Two Towers / Mexico's national flower / Cabot murder she wrote setting / Dhaka dress

Tuesday, May 26, 2015

Constructor: Gareth Bain

Relative difficulty: Medium-Challenging (for a Tuesday)



THEME: "ALL YOU NEED IS LOVE" (39A: Beatles hit that's a hint to both parts of the answer to each starred clue) — "LOVE" can precede both parts of theme answers in familiar phrases:

Theme answers:
  • CHILD SEAT (18A: *Removable car safety feature)
  • BIRD'S NEST (22A: *Asian soup ingredient)
  • MATCH GAME (54A: *Classic daytime show hosted by Gene Rayburn)
  • LIFE STORY (61A: *Biography)
Word of the Day: "MATCH GAME"
Match Game is an American television panel game show in which contestants attempted to match celebrities' answers to fill-in-the-blank questions. The precise format of the show varied through five runs on American television: 1962 to 1969 (on NBC), 1973 to 1982 (on CBS and later in syndication), 1983 to 1984 (again on NBC as part of the Match Game-Hollywood Squares Hour), 1990 to 1991 (on ABC) and 1998 to 1999 (in syndication). Most American incarnations of the show have been hosted by Gene Rayburn.
The most famous versions of the 1970s and 1980s, starting with Match Game '73 (renumbered by year until 1979), are remembered for their bawdy and sometimes rowdy humor involving contestants trying to match six celebrities. The series has been franchised around the world, often under the name Blankety Blanks.
In 2013, TV Guide ranked it #4 in its list of the 60 greatest game shows ever. (wikipedia)
• • •

Well, some weird combo of Firefox (my new most hated browser) and Blogger and me just managed to permanently (it seems) erase 2/3 of my completed write-up, and I just can't bear to do it again. It was fantastic, I assure you. Short version: puzzle is an old concept, well executed. Clean fill. I made many, many errors and missteps (for a Tuesday). I had these listed for you in bullet points (formatting these was where things went very wrong from a technical standpoint). Here's what remains of that list:

  • Had -OG at 62D: Confused state and could think only of GOG. I don't understand, either.
  • The clue on "MATCH GAME" was totally confusing, but now I understand it. It's a game show. Clue it as game show, and I got it. Clue it as "daytime show" (which could be anything), and you lost me (I'm figuring it's something *else* Gene Rayburn did that I didn't know about). But you can't clue it as "game show" because GAME is in the answer. Thus, ironically, I struggled to get my favorite game show of all time.

[Meara + Dawson = peak TV]
    • 57D: Title for a jeune fille: Abbr. (MLLE) — I wrote in ELLE, which is not, obviously, an Abbr. This error contributed mightily to my "MATCH GAME" woes.
    But I'm exaggerating the amount of real struggle. This was still a pretty easy puzzle, and a competently put-together one at that.
    ***

    So, yeah. There you go. You get Partial Blog today. Gonna go crush my computer with a mallet now. Eight+ years and I've never lost a write-up. First!

    Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

    [Follow Rex Parker on Facebook and Twitter]

    78 comments:

    Hartley70 8:17 AM  

    LOVE this one! Fresh clues, no dreck, a very worthy follow up to yesterday's winner. This is also pretty charming, my word of the week so far. Could this turn out to be my favorite week ever?

    Billy C 8:20 AM  

    Where is everyone??? Back at work?

    Billy C 8:23 AM  

    Oh, I see. Rexy is late today.

    pmdm 8:27 AM  

    So why don't you use Safari?

    One of the better write-ups you've posted. To the point, no rambling. Too bad the bullet points vanished, but the initial exposition of your evaluation of the puzzle is from my viewpoint gained a lot from its terseness. I wonder if others here will feel the same.

    Dorothy Biggs 8:31 AM  

    I got AOUT entirely from crosses. Even after I was sure the crosses were correct I just stared at it. I assume it's Spanish for August. I know a few months in Spanish...this was not one of them.

    So you put the word "love" in front of all of the words, yes? "Love-match" and "Love-game" don't ring a bell with me, either one of them. Are they tennis terms?

    COSSET was new to me...but gettable.

    I'd call this one medium-easy.

    George Barany 8:33 AM  

    My condolences, @Rex, on your computer woes, and sorry to have missed the full breadth of your analysis. For all we know, you may have included a clip to the Beatles song in question.

    You are absolutely right, "Match Game" comes from an era when game shows aired only afternoons, not during prime time. I grew up in a household without a TV, but occasionally caught the afternoon fare in the background if visiting classmates for team homework assignments. By the time the most famous rendition of the show, complete with classic double entendres, was thriving, I was already in grad school, and the demands of experiments trumped getting over to the TV in the student residence lounge.

    It is worth pointing out that @Gareth Bain achieves a double today, insofar as today's Los Angeles Times puzzle is also his. Congratulations!

    Anonymous 8:37 AM  

    @pmdm
    So why don't you find another crossword blog?

    Rug Crazy 8:39 AM  

    My mother was on the Match Game in the sixties. The only thing I remember is the question - Name a President on Mt. Rushmore." The Other team all said Washington... her team all said Lincoln. Go figure

    Francois 8:40 AM  

    @NCA President: It's French, you idiot. Try the Google.

    Billy C 8:41 AM  


    @NCA Pres --

    About is French.

    Good question on love match, love game.

    There are probably occasional love games (four consecutive points won by the same player/team), but a love match ( at least 24 consecutive points) would be a horrible mismatch, plus one that was rather rude of the winner(s). So I assume a love match has to do with romance. OK, but not a commonly-used phrase, or at least not as common as the other pairs.

    Billy C 8:43 AM  

    Oops, Aout, not "about." Blame it on the spell-checker, not me! ;-)

    chefbea 8:46 AM  

    Great puzzle and I wondered why it took Rex soooo long to post. Hand up for loving the match game...and also Murder she wrote

    Joe 8:48 AM  
    This comment has been removed by the author.
    Lewis 8:51 AM  
    This comment has been removed by the author.
    Arlene 9:01 AM  

    I remember MATCH GAME - as Gene Rayburn was one of my favorite emcees. I just followed the link on his name, and it says he passed away in 1999. End of an era.
    I felt so smug getting the Beatles song right away - I never usually get songs.
    Good Tuesday solve!

    Anonymous 9:06 AM  

    Had SHifT instead of SHUNT for 11D. So I got NEiMAN and BIRDSfEST. Perfectly logical. NO?
    The NYT site shows the 500th fastest solver at 7:10 minutes. Boggles my mind.
    Me - About 33 minutes. About twice my average time for Mon-Tue.

    Lewis 9:08 AM  

    @nca -- like you, I learned COSSET and wondered about "love match" and "love game".

    I'm with Rex in that this was a competent puzzle with some but not too much dreck, some learning (COSSET, PEABO), and a theme that is cute and so obvious, I wondered why it had never been done before. For some intangible reason, it didn't have the pop to me that yesterday's had, but it was still a satisfying solve. And I thought it was just Tuesday-right, not medium/challenging.

    I sympathize with Rex. One of the greatest peeves in my life is when a computer loses work that I've done. I also figure that if that is one of the greatest peeves in my life, I'm a pretty lucky guy at the moment.

    I like REST touching STOP and EDGE on the edge.

    Ludyjynn 9:09 AM  

    My neighbor's 30 feet tall saucer MAGNOLIA tree is fully budded and ready to explode into bloom. It is absolutely magnificent!

    Liked "Tuesdays w/ MORRIE" USEd in a Tuesday grid.

    "Hot Hot Hot" brings back happy memories of nightclub dancing where everyone lined up, held on to the person in front of 'em and snaked around the dance floor, screaming OLEOLE! Better than the BOSSA Nova at the COPA!

    Lately, my high school French has come in very handy in x-words, n'est ce pas?

    Great theme; I LOVEd it. Thanks, GB and WS.

    John Child 9:11 AM  

    There are enough songs with the title LOVE GAME to allow it to pass, but that was the corner slowest to fill and make sense of, for many of the same reasons OFL mentioned. Nice execution of a simple theme is OK on Tuesday.

    And to have both the LAT and NYT puzzle the same day must be a fairly rare occurrence... Congratulations!

    Loren Muse Smith 9:25 AM  

    Yay, Gareth – terrific offering today. And you SCOREd a TRYST for the last down!

    I don’t think I knew that SHUNT meant “move.” I would have asked about it, but because so many people are being incredibly nasty about asking questions here rather than googling, I looked it up. (Top o’ the morning to you, @Francois.) SHUNT’S first meaning says it’s to move someone or something to a less important place. As in, “Let’s shunt all the obnoxious anonymice to a tiny little post script at the bottom written in about a size 2 font.” I know I’m setting myself up to be attacked right back, but I’m grumpy and hungry right now.

    (FWIW – anonymice update – last week I invited those who*I have an issue with about embarrassing people here to email me, to come out from behind their safe little pseudonyms and talk to me person to person. No takers, no surprise. I did, though, get emails supporting my stance and agreeing wholeheartedly that these people are mean.)

    All the ways to play with “ought” –

    I OTTO get something to eat.
    AORTA get something to eat.
    I AOUT a get something to eat.

    So anyway, Gareth – I continue to be a big fan of yours. Congrats on your twofer today!

    *I refuse to use whom here.

    jberg 9:26 AM  

    Love GAME may be tennis (or may not), but a love MATCH is a marriage between two people who would be a very unlikely couple in other ways, but really love each other. It probably made sense in the past when people were expected to marry in a way that improved their social position.

    Love GAME I took to be like the game of love, which you hear a lot more.

    Cabot COVE and "Murder She Wrote" were mentioned in the "Ask Amy" column sometime in the last two days, otherwise I'd have needed more crosses.

    But UBERGEEK! TUSHES! Lots to love here. Saying JAPAN is the center of Shinto is like saying that the USA is the center of Americanism, but it's a clue, not a definition, right? And I loved the clues for BCE and EDITOR. Good puzzle all around.

    Trudy 9:31 AM  

    I LOVED the Weird Al Yankovic shout-out on the UBERGEEK clue, as "Fluent in Javascript as well as Klingon" is a line from "White and Nerdy." Of course, that misled me into putting UBERNERD instead of UBERGEEK as the answer.

    American 9:44 AM  

    Francois,

    It's not "the Google". It's Google. It's English, dumb shit.

    Charles Flaster 9:45 AM  

    Enjoyed this EZ one and got Beatles song right away.
    Did not know COSSET.
    Write over: MLLE for eLLE.
    MATCH GAME was a vehicle for a comic romp for the panel. Most often the contestants spoke less than 10 words for the entire show. There was an instance of "two" words.
    Tuesdays with MORRIE is a must-read.
    Thanks GB.



    Elle54 9:47 AM  

    Did anyone else Natick with MITA/MAYA? Also, Match Game was a gimme

    quilter1 9:48 AM  

    Great puzzle. I had COddle before COSSET but easily fixed. Big fan of UBERGEEK and the Beatles song. Thanks for the MATCH GAME clip. The MAGNOLIA trees and other flowering trees are done here, but they were especially gorgeous after a long winter. My hot pink rose revived and has many blooms for a change. Sadly, the yellow climber died. So glad for spring.

    Z 9:49 AM  

    UBERnerd slowed me down. Otherwise a fine Tuesday solve. Marks off for not being off the wall weird, which is a Tuesday characteristic I've come to look forward to. What is going on when we get a competently done straightforward clever Tuesday puzzle. It just ain't right.

    @LMS - but by acknowledging the correct usage you still invite argument from thos who don't see that "with" goes with "who(m)."

    @Someone with a legit query yesterday - Difficulty is relative to the day. Rex has rated Mondays as "challenging" before. A challenging Monday is, roughly, a medium Tuesday or easy Wednesday. If you click on the FAQ link at the top of the page this and other frequently asked questions are answered.

    oldbizmark 9:54 AM  

    i think someone has to say it: enough with the fucking beatles already!

    RooMonster 9:59 AM  

    Hey All !
    Nice puz, but I'm not heaping praise in buckets on it like most of youse. Sure, it's a nice theme, low dreck, some good fill, but, for me at least, just a regular type TuesPuz. That's how it seems, sorry all.

    @Lewis, what do you mean by never been done before? The word-before-the-theme-words thing has been done many times. Also word-following-the-themer-words. Just sayin.

    I actually did like this puz, nothing against it. The TANDOORI/AOUT cross was a Natick, no? That O was hard to infer if you don't know French. Finally got BOSSA correct, only because I had the SA at first! COddle-> COSSET, net-> BOX, not sure of spelling of PEABO at first. Lots of A's, RATED AAA, MPAA.

    OLE OLE
    RooMonster
    DarrinV

    lawprof 10:03 AM  

    Second day in a row slowed brIEfly by the "I before E except..." thing. Yesterday, SEIZE; today WEIRD. Weird.

    Anonymous 10:04 AM  

    How could anyone as well known as Maya Lin be a Natick?

    OISK 10:09 AM  

    @oldbizmark - I would say it without the vulgarity. It adds nothing and offends some, (mostly older people like me) so why do it? Yeah, enough with the Beatles.

    Slow for a Tuesday for me, but that is fine. Three brand names right near each other is annoying (Plax, Mita, Alpo). My own particular quibble - We have plenty of bocce courts ( 1 down) here in Brooklyn. NONE of them are on lawns. The surface is more like clay, and the court has wooden boundaries. There are similar games played on lawns, but I don't think they are called "bocce." (I have seen the French version, boules (??) played on open ground. The English version is "lawn bowling," which of course, is played on grass...)

    dk 10:13 AM  

    🌕🌕🌕🌕 (4mOOOOns)

    Just a charming puzzle.

    A love theme peppered with slang terms for body parts (e.g., BOX, BIRDSNEST, PETER, TUSHES, MEAT).

    I bet MPAA would give this puzzle a R.

    Setting aside my preteen humor - Thank you Mr. Bain.

    AnnieD 10:23 AM  

    Played easy for me...more like a standard Monday. Beatles song right off. (I have no problem with the frequency of Beatles songs in puzzles...I'm sure it's still much less frequent than the appearance of Dr Dre.) I didn't bother with understanding the theme until the puzz was complete..made no difference. But I did have to write over MongOLIA for MAGNOLIA. Amazing how reading the clue first helps with the answer! Doh!

    AliasZ 10:24 AM  


    Row 1 reads: BEST COPA TUSHES. I know,I experienced it first hand. It was the best part of the puzzle, and it went downhill from there.

    The theme: Hiding the word preceding both words in the theme entry phrases, in a 16-letter Beatles song title, doesn't make it any less boring.

    The fill: pretty average, with ALOT of AGED crosswordese stand-byes: DELT, ENS, ENTS, ERAS, EWER, etc. etc. plus two GGs (Germaine GREER and Graham GREENE).

    A rather yawny Tuesday in my view, save a few entries: COSSET, DAHLIA, MAGNOLIA (I love flowers), TANDOORI and UBERGEEK.

    Let's enjoy a more upbeat bacchanalian theme from Samson and DAHLIA by Camille Saint-Saëns.

    Joseph Michael 10:48 AM  

    When I first started reading this blog, Gareth Bain and Andrea Carla Michaels were regular contributors. Both left because of Rex's negativity. Seeing Gareth's puzzle today reminds me of how much I miss his thoughtful and informative comments. Ditto for Acme.

    Solid puzzle today and a little tough for a Tuesday. Didn't know COSSET or MITA. Especially liked UBERGEEK and the clue POST POST for EDITOR.

    Leapfinger 10:49 AM  

    @Loren, IOTA try to think of a few more examples. EWER so good at this kind of WordPlay!

    Like the other GB, I also didn't grow up with TV, so no MATCHGAME in my past, but I did read books that had words like COSSET in 'em. I didn't Natick on the MITA/MAYA cross, but wondered about MAIA, maybe. As usual, proper names are most likely come a cropper, so the PLAX/BOX X was just a 'most reasonable guess', and PEABO was so buried as a brain-lurker that I couldn't have specified why if a gun were held to my head. SHUNT (from Thomas the Tank Engine days) surprised the OLEOLE out of me, cuz I coulda swore it was Alfred E. NEWMAN. Oh well...What, me worry?

    Ooh, ooh! I called August AOUT before I called it August.
    Bonjour, TRYST-S...

    LOVEd the theme thing! Yes, a LOVEMATCH is a marriage made for LOVE, rather than for riches, land or title. I remember a *POEM I wrote during a torrid *AFFAIR with a beau I'll call my *LORN; he was good at his *CRAFT and was the *APPLE of my eye. Speaking of *CRAFT, we once took a *BOAT for an outing on the *CANAL and got very *SICK. Fixed that right up with *POTION #9.

    Gareth Bain just doesn't do boring. That juxta of TUSHES-STREAK and BEST-MEAT particularly held my *INTEREST.

    Thanks A-, B- and C-LOT!!

    Nancy 10:51 AM  

    A bit more challenging than most Tuesdays, which is a good thing as far as I'm concerned. I even had a few writeovers -- highly unusual for this day of the week. ODIE instead of OTTO (Is Odie a dog or a kid? I'm never quite sure.) Had to choose between AAA RATED and RATED AAA, and I initially chose wrong. And had NEWMAN before NEUMAN. So a pretty enjoyable puzzle.

    Billy C 11:04 AM  


    Leapy --

    Very clever, bonjour, TRYST-S.

    Are you showing your age, though?

    galegdavis 11:10 AM  

    Nice interview with Ann Meara in the video clip of Matchgame shared by Rex..She passed away last week. RIP

    Leapfinger 11:15 AM  

    @AliasZ,

    Continuing in your floral vein:
    I t'ink dat vase Camellia Saint-Saens

    Masked and Anonymous 11:37 AM  

    Tough one for me to get going on, due to such goodies as:
    BOCCE, CARLOS, COSSET, PEABO, AOUT and MITA. No problemo with MATCHGAME: got it with no crosses. Also got the revealer with no crosses, so that gave me my nerve back.

    Wowzer, only 6 weeject candidates, of which ENS is my fave, as it is a two-letter plural.

    fave desperado: RATEDAAA. Cousin of NAMEDREX.
    fave fillins: TANDOORI. GREER GREENE. PLAX. OWE OWEN (runtpuz theme seed?)

    All UUUU need is COVE,

    M&A

    **gruntz**

    Rhino 11:48 AM  

    I liked the puzzle. I liked UBERGEEK being near the clue for "It's a trap!" (which was an ubergeeky Star Wars-themed meme about seven years ago).

    I could also use about a thirty year break from the Beatles. We get it Baby Boomers, you were fans.

    Unfortunately, my second DNF in a row for a Tuesday. I will list all that I didn't know as a sort of confession, and to give pleasure to those who can now look down on an anonymous person on the internet:

    COSSET, MITA, PEABO, TANDOORI, AOUT, GREER.

    Too many of these crossed, so I was forced to cheat to win.

    Rhino 11:49 AM  

    Oh, and @Nancy, Odie is the dog in Garfield.

    mathguy 12:02 PM  

    Nice Tuesday puzzle but I can't get excited about it because I just finished Patrick Berry's puzzle from Saturday's WSJ. If you want more proof that PB is a genius, try it. It's free on their website.

    The puzzle is billed as a cryptic, but it isn't. The clues are standard. It's a 15x15 grid. Each row if filled by three entries clued consecutively. There are also clues for 21 "boxes." The answer to each box clue can be enclosed in a rectangle somewhere in the grid. When all the boxes are identified, there are a few leftover letters. They spell out a phrase which is related to the title of the puzzle.

    Wow! How can he construct something so intricate?

    Size 12:15 PM  

    I Naticked as well.

    Anonymous 12:17 PM  

    @elle54, @anonymous10:04 - yep, MITA/MAYA was a Natick for me, too. I'm not up on designers/architects

    @nancy - were you also thinking of OPIE, a kid? (Ron Howard on the 60s Andy Griffith Show)

    Lewis 12:21 PM  

    @roo -- You are absolutely right that this type of theme has been done many times in the past, but I was talking about this exact theme, using "All You Need Is Love". It seems like such a theme natural that I'm surprised it wasn't done before (if it hasn't). Credit to Gareth for thinking of and using it.

    Sylvie 12:22 PM  

    Having to know pop culture trivia as ancient as The Match Game and Beetle Bailey just makes me sad.

    Leapfinger 12:32 PM  

    @Billy C, I was very precocious in early childhood, mostly because I gloried in snitching anything that belonged to my older sister. (I also admired Jean Seberg's haircut.)

    Your turn to tell howcum you knew. Related to Françoise Sagan?
    ;)

    Lewis 12:34 PM  

    Factoid: Sergei Prokofiev was a child prodigy, having written music for the piano at age five and an opera at nine; he wrote PETER and the Wolf (at age 45) in two weeks.

    Quotoid: "When authorities WARN you of the sinfulness of sex, there is an important lesson to be learned. Do not have sex with the authorities." -- Matt Groening

    RooMonster 12:37 PM  

    @Lewis, aha, I didn't think you were losing your marbles!
    Funny Quotoid also!

    RooMonster

    mac 1:48 PM  

    Very good Tuesday, with some beautiful words.

    I have to agree with OISK; I've been in two Bocce tournaments (for a joke) and have
    the hideous bocce shoes to prove it.

    oldbizmark 3:40 PM  

    @OISK sorry about that. enough with the (insert strong language of your choice here) beatles already!

    now, a good Frank Zappa puzzle... that would be something!!!

    Billy C 4:43 PM  


    @Leapy --

    Actually. I'm not sure how I remember i"Bonjour Tristesse." I don't think I read the novel nor saw the film, I was pre-teen at the time. I probably just remember it from the publicity. Or maybe pix of Jean Seberg, very sexy for a pre-pubescent boy! ;-)

    aging soprano 5:11 PM  

    Your computer auto corrected "Aout" to "About". Haha.

    aging soprano 5:17 PM  

    Your computer auto corrected "Aout" to "About". Haha.

    Anonymous 5:45 PM  

    LMS is tantruming again. Hope she doesn't fall off her high horse as she flails.

    aging soprano 5:54 PM  

    Love GAME is definitely tennis, and I would have figured out 54A faster if it had been reversed and clued "----set----". Having lived abroad for so many years make many products and TV shows hard for me to conjure up.
    Had BOwls for 1D. Never heard of BOCCE but now I know they are the same GAME.
    @Rhino I am indeed an old COSSET boomer, but I didn't really become a Beatles fan until my son discovered them 30 years later.
    Love UBER love GEEK.
    Don't get the clue for EDITOR.

    aging soprano 5:55 PM  
    This comment has been removed by the author.
    OISK 6:27 PM  

    @oldbizmark - thanks for the apology, it was appreciated. On the other hand, I have no idea who Frank Zappa is or what he wrote or performed, although I am familiar with the name, of course.

    Nancy 7:23 PM  

    Thanks, Rhino. I always get my cartoon dogs confused. And thank you, Anon 12:17. I was walking in the park today, when the thought hit me: Did I just confuse OPIE with ODIE? How terribly embarrassing! Happily now, because of the two of you, I may never make these mistakes again. (But don't count on it.)

    jae 8:40 PM  

    This was on the tough side for me too.  Liked it, but thought the LAT puzzle was easier and a tad more fun/original.   Hey, two for two isn't bad. 

    Anonymous 9:10 PM  

    @pmdm, do you assume Rex has an Apple computer? Otherwise, Chrome and Firefox are the recommended browsers for PCs.

    Lewis 9:20 PM  

    @soprano -- Post post would be a job at the Washington Post, I'm assuming, such as an editor.

    Hartley70 9:42 PM  

    Nancy, D is for dog. P is for person. There you go, Toots!

    JJK 10:09 PM  

    I liked this puzzle but thought it was super easy - it could have been a Monday. The one exception was MITA. I've never heard of that copier company.

    Tita 10:34 AM  

    I've been behind on puzzles lately. Last night, on the way up to our friends to play BOCCE, I was doing this puzzle when I saw 1D. Had I done the puzzle on the right day, would not have been as awesomely syncronous!

    @Oisk - 100% agree. Our friends built their court - bounded by wood, set into a lawn, and the surface is silt from the Housatonic River, which runs just a few yards away. Pétanque or boules, lots of which we saw played across France, can happen nearly anywhere, though never lawns.

    In fact, in Haut-de-Cagnes, a mountain-top village near the Riviera, there is literally no flat surface in town - so they play "Boules Carrées" - "Square Balls" on the steep cobbled streets.

    @mac - there are BOCCE shoes????!!

    spacecraft 12:50 PM  

    No one has yet noted that we have a 16-wide grid today, so in that respect, a bit tougher than your typical Tuesday. Also in respect to: COSSET, MITA/MAYA (great guess, Spacey! Why, thankyew) and TANDOORI.

    Working down the west, I had ALL_O...for the big entry--and all I could think of at first was "All together now!" In a WEIRD coincidence, that phrase is heard in the actual hit. Of course, my FOG lifted quickly.

    @BS has usually checked in by now, so I'll try one:

    LIFE STORY

    At the COPA I see many TUSHES perform
    The sight STIRS me until I feel warm.
    "Come on, Ms. STONE, let's TRYST at the COVE!"
    She said "No, because ALLYOUNEEDISLOVE."

    WEIRD NEUMAN

    A very fun do. Not RATEDAAA, but I'll go for A-. (Gotta stay away from those naticks!)

    Burma Shave 1:02 PM  

    OLEOLE RATEDAAA

    At HOME I played LOVEBIRDS with MAGNOLIA, DAHLIA, and the REST,
    each LOVEMATCH began on the LOVESEAT, then was SENT to the LOVENEST.

    Each LOVEGAME became a LOVESTORY, SARI, I can’t remember who was BEST
    through that whole STREAK of non-STOP TUSHES, I was DELT such a test.

    To chronicle my LOVELIFE there are ALOT of PLAX one SEES on the wall,
    one for each TRYST to SCORE a LOVECHILD; I made MOMS of them all.

    --- PETER STONE

    rondo 1:27 PM  

    Hey, two nice puzzles to start the week (I consider the Sunday puz as the finale)! And a lot of LOVE to be spread around.

    We get an OLEOLE but not a SvenSven or LenaLena. Please tell me you’ve heard of those jokes.

    Took a night class thirty-some years ago that involved a visit to the Scientology church and bookstore. Made the mistake of buying Dianetics and filling my name and address on the slip. Still getting junk mail from LRON’s crew all these years later.

    I believe I’ve told my STREAKing story not that long ago.

    How on earth could I fill in NEwMAN?! I must be becoming AGED.

    Saw PEABO Bryson and Sheena Easton, yeah baby, host a Christmas performance in DT St. Paul, must be 15 years ago.

    I could get used to being away from work (only +/- 12 days off since Prez Day), especially with decent puzzles.

    DMG 2:47 PM  

    Tuesday good. Like others I had to write over Cuddle, and note that Spell checker is trying to do the same thing! Didn't know PEABO, but couldn't figure how to make it something else?! Learned TANDOORI has two O's and that goalies area is called BOX, not "net". A little learning every day......

    As for @math guy's comment on the Saturday WSJ puzzle- I can never ever figure out they are supposed to bedone, let alone do them., so i stick with their more straight forward Friday crosswords.

    rondo 3:25 PM  

    BTW - I have a regulation set of BOCCE balls - quite expensive - and we play with or without borders, the local school has ballfields nearby - imagine . . .

    rain forest 4:12 PM  

    Two enjoyable puzzles to start the week, with a tight theme and revealer, some excellent cluing, little or no dreck (gotta find better word for this), *and* I have used a Mita photocopier, not knowing it was a "classic". I've played Bocce on a lawn, and on a beach--prefer the lawn.

    Back in 1959, I watched a show called Do Re Mi in the morning (my school was on shift) with Gene Rayburn as host. Liked the show and the guy.

    Is it true that Gareth Bain was bullied off this blog by OFL?

    leftcoastTAM 5:31 PM  

    Tough Tuesday and enjoyed it--except for TANDiORi/AiUT cross. Took enough French way back when to know better, but alas no Hindi.

    leftcoastTAM 5:34 PM  

    TANDiORI/AiUT, that is.

    Anonymous 5:17 AM  

    @lawprof: Note that the full mnemonic is:

    I before E,
    Except after C,
    Or when sounded as A,
    As in neighbor and weigh.

    This still leaves some exceptions, but eliminates a huge number of words that don't conform to the abbreviated version that so many of us were taught. It's too bad educators thought we couldn't handle more than the first six words in the rule. My grandmother taught me the full rule long ago. (My real name is Karen Essene, but I'm going to sign in as Anon.)

    Mellisa Thomas 9:10 PM  

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